


Tarrytown, NY

by hjea



Category: Fringe
Genre: Amber - Freeform, Breach - Freeform, Gen, Pre-6:02 AM EST, Season/Series 03, War Between Universes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-02
Updated: 2012-03-02
Packaged: 2017-11-01 00:19:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/349918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hjea/pseuds/hjea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Altworld. A new Fringe event hits far too close to home for Olivia.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tarrytown, NY

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted 4/21/11.

“So, Agent Dunham, your first week back at work, and boy what a doozie.”    
  
They were walking down the hall, all three of them shoulder-hunched and weary after a day of talking down seniors convinced that their neighbours were planning the end of the world, but Olivia could hear the teasing note in Lincoln’s voice and she rolled her eyes, knowing what was coming. “You know, Charlie and I—“    
  
From beside her, Charlie shook his head and grinned, “Hey, keep me out of this.”    
  
“Charlie and I,” Lincoln continued on undaunted, “We agreed that we would give you an easy week, you know, really let you find your stride, remember the ropes.”    
  
Olivia reached back to sock Lincoln in the arm. “I had a baby, not brain surgery you moron,” she said, trying to keep the laughter out of her voice. Lincoln just smirked at her in reply.    
  
“Had I known!” He continued, head back, clearly enjoying himself now, “That we would be  _thrust_  into the proverbial fire with case upon case of—what was it today?—Mr. Willard and the squirrels in his wall building a time machine? Well, I would have insisted that you stay away until it had all quieted down.”    
  
“Yeah, yeah.” They reached headquarters, and looked down at the soldiers and agents moving below. Olivia turned to lean against the railing and rolled her eyes once more for Lincoln’s benefit. “I just won’t mention that someone,” this time Olivia smirked, “was so desperate to get out of paperwork that he volunteered to check out the time-travelling squirrels with us.” From beside her, Charlie knocked his shoulder against hers in approval.    
  
Lincoln shook his head. “I can’t believe it, ganged up on by my own agents again. And me, just trying out of the goodness of my heart to help you settle in.” The three of them laughed, equal parts exhaustion and happiness to be back together colouring the moment.    
  
“Really, Liv,” Lincoln caught her gaze, almost shyly. “We’re happy to have you back.” Charlie nodded and bumped her shoulder again. “Yeah we are.”    
  
Olivia let the smile split across her whole face. “Me too.”    
  
Suddenly the alarms went off. “Amber Alert!” One of the junior agents called out. “Looks like a breach, a big one!”    
  
Lincoln leapt down the stairs in a bound and started barking orders, while Olivia and Charlie both hung back, Olivia gripping the rail in anticipation.    
  
“Location?”   
  
Astrid’s fingers were already blurring furiously over her screen. “The event is occurring 49 kilometres north—Tarrytown, New York.”   
  
Lincoln’s head whipped around to stare at Olivia, just as she felt the room close in around her.    
  
“Liv, isn’t that…?”    
  
“My mom. Oh god--” She couldn’t breathe, didn’t think she would even be standing if Charlie’s hand hadn’t shot out to grab her elbow in a vice grip. “That’s my mom’s… Lincoln, the baby’s with her.”    
  
“Okay,” Lincoln jabbed his finger at an agent standing by the door, “ready a transport NOW. We’re leaving.”    
  
Lincoln was already moving, halfway to the exit, and Olivia somehow found it in herself to take a gasping breath of air and fall into step behind him. Charlie was hesitating though, rocking back and forth on his leg as his eyes flicked back to the screen as it flashed and wailed in alarm, the size of the breach growing in every second.    
  
“Guys, wait! This thing’s too big—it’s too far away—local division’s going to have it ambered way before we get there.”    
  
“Charlie, we’re leaving.” Olivia could feel Lincoln’s eyes boring straight through her to their partner. “You coming or not?”    
  
“Yeah, of course I’m coming,” Charlie muttered, and with one last look at the screen over his shoulder, he ran to join them.    
  
As they jogged back down the hall, Olivia pressed her fingers to her ear to connect her phone. “Mom? Mom! Are you there? C’mon, pick up!” The line was dead.   
  
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Lincoln shake his head. “Doesn’t mean anything, could be all the interference jamming the signal.”    
  
The transport was waiting in loading, and Lincoln jumped into the driver’s seat in a smooth second. Olivia ran around to the passenger side. “Lincoln, do we know where the breach started? What caused it? How long until the protocols go off?” He was shaking his head even before she was done speaking. “I don’t know anything. They’re going to update us on the way. I’ll get us there faster than you can imagine, I promise.”    
  
“Yeah, okay.”    
  
Olivia looked into the rear-view mirror to see Charlie’s grim face staring back at her, and she felt panic hit her like an undertow.    
  
***   
  
They arrived too late, the amber already glistening sickly in the sunset as far as she could see.    
  
They screeched to a halt and Olivia leapt from the car, the edge of the amber field in the constant periphery of her vision as she ran toward the Fringe trucks and ambulances with the group of people, herded like frightened sheep in the middle. She didn’t let her mind dwell on that metaphor. The people, god, there were way too few for… how many blocks did Lincoln say were quarantined? 15?    
  
Olivia waved her badge at the soldier who stepped forward to stop her, and began scanning the crowd. Their shocked drawn faces, the tears, all of it was familiar to Olivia by now, but it had somehow never seemed so real to her before, the fear and grief standing out in sharp contrast to her own. And yet she couldn’t seem to concentrate on their faces; all their features were blurring together as she ran through the crowd, searching.    
  
And then.    
  
“Olivia!”    
  
For a moment she felt rooted to the ground, too scared to turn her head and make certain she hadn’t imagined the shout. But then she did turn, and there was her mother, standing wrapped in a shock blanket by the edge of the barricade, and—for another heart-stopping moment Olivia wasn’t sure—but yes, the baby in her arms, and Olivia crossed the few feet in no time at all and fell against her mother’s neck, and let the terror and relief burst like a dam inside her.    
  
“Oh, Olive!” Her mother was crying into her hair, and Olivia gripped her harder, trying to convince herself they were really here, that against all the odds they were all right.    
  
“Olive, the evacuation team came in and we ran,” Marilyn was saying, “we just ran.”    
  
“That’s good, mom.” Olivia nodded into her shoulder, and closed her eyes, silently thanking whoever was listening. “That’s good.”    
  
The baby was whimpering between them, and Olivia finally pulled back, staring greedy-eyed at her son now as her mother slipped him into her arms without another word.    
  
“Hi, sweetheart.” Olivia raised him to her face, pressing kisses to his cheek and breathing him in as she fought against another wave of panic, this time tinged with what-if. “I’m here now.”    
  
The baby’s whimpering was growing louder, and when he unscrewed his eyes to stare into her own they grew into full-blown wails.    
  
“He’s not hurt, is he?” Olivia asked, already loosening the blankets around him to check for any sign of injury.    
  
“No, I don’t think so.” Marilyn wiped the tears from her eyes, and then laid a shaky hand against Olivia’s cheek. “I was just heating up a bottle before all… this.” She took a deep breath, “so he’s probably just hungry.”    
  
Olivia pushed her face into her mother’s hand for a second and then nodded, bouncing the crying baby gently. “Okay, I can feed him.”    
  
For the first time since she had jumped from the car, she raised her head to look for Charlie and Lincoln. She found them, hanging back talking to other survivors, giving her the moment with her mother and child, and her heart swelled in gratitude, in love even—or something like it—for them both. She turned back to her mother.    
  
“Mom, you’re okay?”    
  
Her mom wiped a few more stray tears from her eyes. “The dog…” she was biting her lip, “I know it’s stupid when so many people have lost their lives, their loved ones, but… I loved that dog.”    
  
“I know, mom.” Olivia could feel the prickling start in her own eyes now, tears threatening to spill for the first time that day despite all the emotional turmoil of the last hour.    
  
“And all my photos of Rachel… just gone.”    
  
“I have photos of Rachel, mom. I have tons.” Olivia leaned her forehead against her mother’s and pressed a swift kiss to her temple. “Okay?”    
  
Marilyn nodded. “Okay, my love.”    
  
Olivia straightened again and nodded at Lincoln, who immediately stopped what he was doing and began to stride toward them.    
  
“Mom, I’m going to go feed this guy,” she said, shifting the baby in her arms as he launched into a fresh bout of wails, clearly realizing he’d been remembered again. “Are you okay here, just for a bit? Lincoln’s going to stay with you and then I’m going to take you home.”    
  
“Of course, Olive.” Her mother smiled, faltering, but brave. “I’ll see if Agent Lee needs help talking to everyone—I know most of them.”    
  
“Great.” Olivia gripped her mother’s hand once more. “I love you, okay?”    
  
“I know. I love you too, my brave girl.” She tucked a piece of hair behind Olivia’s ear. “I knew you’d come to save us.”    
  
***   
  
It wasn’t until she was safely seated in the back of an empty ambulance that she really let the tears come, flowing freely down her cheeks and dropping onto the baby’s head as she uselessly tried to wipe them away.    
  
“I love you,” she whispered over and over again in the quiet, squeezing her son too hard against her until he squirmed and kicked in protest, and she forced herself to relax, to breathe, tilting her head back until the tears ran down her throat.    
  
***   
  
She gathered herself afterward, scrubbing at her face with the edge of the baby’s blanket. It was still chaotic outside, with some people milling around in confusion while others stood frozen, but at least it was better-organized chaos now. On the other side of the crowd, Olivia could see Fringe agents beginning to usher the survivors into the waiting vans. She spotted Charlie and Lincoln again, their heads bowed as they spoke quietly to her mother, and she waited on the edge of it all, before she caught Lincoln’s eyes and waved him to the side so they could speak privately.    
  
Lincoln squeezed her shoulder when he reached her side, and then looked down smiling into her arms. “Hey, buddy.” He tickled the baby under the chin and the baby, much happier now with a full stomach, blinked curiously up at him and uncurled a fist to catch Lincoln’s finger in a tight squeeze. Lincoln raised his eyes to hers. “They’re okay, Liv.”    
  
“Yeah,” Olivia smiled tightly at him and shrugged her shoulders in a show of false bravado she knew Lincoln could see straight through. “So do you need me to stick around any longer, boss?”    
  
“No, you can take them home. I’ll brief you in the morning.”    
  
“Right.” Olivia turned, about to go, but then stopped. “Lincoln, do we know what caused it? To open here? Someone try to cross over, or mess with some equipment, or…” Her voice trailed off as she caught Lincoln’s expression, his hands opening in a gesture of futility. “We don’t know, Liv. We don’t think it was anything.” His gaze caught hers once more, and she saw the darkness flash in his eyes. “This world is falling apart. It just happened.”    
  
***   
  
48 hours later she was standing in the Secretary’s office, spine rigid as he explained why the weapon was now online.    
  
“But…” This was wrong. She understood it now, understood in every fibre of her being that this was wrong. “Sir. Your  _son_  is over there.”    
  
The Secretary stared at her, sharp-eyed and steady. “I heard you nearly lost your son two days ago. Because of what is happening to this world. Because of what they did.”    
  
It felt like a punch to the gut. Olivia wanted desperately to just go home and see him. To hold him and indulge the umpteenth surge of panic she felt at how close she had been to losing everything. She stood her ground.    
  
“No,” the Secretary’s expression was inscrutable. “I chose to give up my son so that you could keep yours.”    
  
Olivia knew this was wrong. And she knew now that she would fight against it with everything she had. But for the briefest of moments—the blink of an eye—she imagined that world burning for what it had done to her.    
  
It felt good. 


End file.
